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Iltirtkesk Tildobanite (Ilergetan Cavalry)
Iltiŕtkesk Tildobanite are courageous and strong Ilergetian horsemen who follow their chiefs to the battle with loyalty. Equipped with thureoi, javelins and longswords, the role of these warriors lies in harassing their enemies and also in supporting the allied infantrymen in the main battle. Description With the banners held high, the war cries spread along the horizon where the enemy awaits. It is the right time and the horsemen are beginning to move. They take the field of battle to the gallop. Now, the enemy infantrymen will be the ones who will hear the thunderous noise of the hoofs, the neigh of the horse, the horseman's exhort and the sound of the javelin which pierces the air and hits its target. The battle will advance steadily and there, where there is most need, the Iltiŕtkesk Tildobanite will appear armed with oval shields and longswords in order to fight with courage and with loyalty for their chief. Historically, written and archaeological information has allowed to state that in the Iberian world, the cavalry, understood as a large number of horsemen who shared some kind of organization based on the usage of weapons of similar functionality, and that were enough trained to fight in a coordinated way, didn't appear until the second half of the third century BC. Before that period, the horse was just an aristocratic symbol that was used to travel to the field of battle. In the context of the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, where the Iberians adopted a La Tène weaponry mainly formed by thureoi and longswords, the formation of the cavalry was due to the development of coalitions, such as the one of the Ilergetae and their allies, that allowed the gathering of big military contingents which included warriors able to fight on horse. Additionally, like in other parts of the Iberian world, the Barcids' needs and the Hispano-Celtic influence (that came from an area where there were real contingents of cavalry since at least the fourth century BC) could stimulate the apparition of this Iberian cavalry. Probably, these contingents of horsemen were formed by the noblemen and their military clients. They were able to fight as both irregular and regular cavalry. In the first case typical of skirmish actions, horses could transport two horsemen, in this way one of them could dismount and fight as a mounted warrior's auxiliary. In the second case typical of pitched battles, they fought in a classical way with a horseman for each animal. The written sources aren't scarce when speaking about the local cavalry of this area and more specifically about the Ilergetian one. The first time that the Ilergetian cavalry is mentioned, is due to Polybius who states that 300 Ilergetian mercenary horsemen, were under the Hasdrubal's orders at the beginning of the Second Punic War. After that, they appear fighting for their own interests and leaded by Indibilis who fought against Scipio twice. According to Polybius, the first time, the Ilergetian chief gathered 2,500 horsemen that were distracted by the Roman cavalry preventing the Iberian one from involving in the main battle. In the second battle, Indibilis had 4,000 horsemen. According to Livy (29,2), in this battle "between the wings and the centre they (the Ilergetae) had left intervals of considerable extent, through which they might send out their cavalry when occasion required". However it was counterproductive and when the Roman cavalry blocked those spaces, the Ilergetian horsemen were forced to dismount and fight on foot. Among them Indibilis himself fought to the death in first line together with his picked entourage formed by dismounted horsemen. Category:Units available only in EB2 Category:Arevaci Category:Karthadastim Category:Iberian Units